Fluorinated hydrocarbons also called fluorocarbons are finding more and more industrial uses. For example, amongst the well known fluorocarbons then are those known commercially as Freon, Teflon, Kel-F and fluorothene. The unique physical properties of the various polymers containing fluorine have resulted in their use both as solid materials and as liquids for lubricants. Generally fluorocarbons are prepared by either the metallic fluoride process or the direct fluorination process.
In order to appreciate the problem implied in the preparation of organic fluorides, it should be noted that the amount of energy liberated when fluorine reacts with a hydrocarbon is greater than the energy necessary to dissociate a carbon-carbon bond. From this it results that the uncontrolled reaction of fluorine with organic molecules is explosive and thus the only product generally identifiable is carbon tetrafluoride. One method of moderating the reaction is to use a less reactive fluorinating agent than fluorine itself. Certain metallic fluorides such as CoF.sub.3, AgF, CeF.sub.4 and MnF.sub.4 have been found suitable for this purpose with cobaltic fluoride being preferred.
Unfortunately, even with the milder metallic fluoride intermediate the preparation of fluorocarbons of high molecular weight, which are of interest as lubricating oils, remains difficult to prepare because of the still very high reactivity of the metallic fluorides.
Another method for preparing fluorocarbons is to carry out an exchange reaction between organic halides and inorganic fluorides. For this type of exchange antimony pentafluoride is usually used. However, the use of antimony pentafluoride or other fluorides is not without drawbacks, since these materials are very hygroscopic and very difficult to handle safely.
Accordingly, since antimony pentafluoride is useful as a catalyst or as a source of fluorine in fluorination reactions, it would be highly desirable to provide an antimony pentafluoride in a form where it can be handled easily and used either as a catalyst or a source of fluorine, while being stable to conditions which generally cause antimony pentafluoride to undergo hydrolysis.